


Love In Perpetuity

by roguelightning



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 05:58:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12227133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roguelightning/pseuds/roguelightning
Summary: If someone had told him a few decades ago that he would one day walk his daughter down the aisle one day - Helen's daughter too, no less- Nikola would have thought they were insane. Still, this was happenning. But, after a trip to some Praxian ruins, he soon discovers that the marriage was the least of his concerns...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this started as a prompt from viennainspringtime - well, the first chapter at least, but I decided to continue it. Given where this is going I'm not sure this was the best idea, but oh well... Proceed at your own risk :). And as a side note, yes, the title is not a good sign.

Nikola wasn’t sure going on an expedition to explore what was left of a Praxian stronghold was exactly what they were supposed to be doing those days, not with their daughter marrying and all, but if he were to be honest, he had needed something like that. So when Helen had suggested going on a little exploring trip, for old times’ sake, he jumped at the opportunity.

“Don’t tell me you’re still worried about the wedding.” Helen said, interrupting his thoughts.

“I’m not. Damian is a good kid I guess.” Nikola muttered but she only glared at him.

“But?”

“But his father is a complete asshole who used my name without asking me and who said Edison was better than me?”

“His father thought you were dead until last year, Nikola.” Helen pointed out. “As for the last part, if I recall correctly, he said it concerning marketing problems and well you can’t exactly blame him for that.”

“Yeah he’d know all about that, wouldn’t he? I can’t believe you’re taking his side. I would threaten you with sleeping on the couch tonight but hey that is your MO and besides there are more interesting ways to make you pay for that.”

“The wedding is in three weeks, Nikola.” Helen warned him.

“Yeah, I know. The marks will heal by then probably so don’t worry.” He said, flashing her a toothy grin that made her roll her eyes.

“This is a dead end apparently.” Helen said as they reached a stone wall.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Nikola smirked at her. He let his hand explore the wall, searching for a lock or anything that might have indicated the presence of a failsafe. It was easier than he would have expected, in the end. He felt electricity behind the wall, almost singing to him as he disabled whatever was keeping the wall in its place.

“See? Just like in South Africa.” He grinned as he stepped away, letting Helen enter.

“You almost died in South Africa.” Helen said with a glare as she knelt down, taking a device out of her backpack. “This is exactly why I’m doing a quick scan now.” She said as she knelt down and started the device.

At first, it seemed like nothing was wrong. The device hummed peacefully, sending an energy field across the room, and Helen seemed satisfied with it.

“Good. Nothing here means that we will be able to wrap this soon enou-“ She started saying but wasn’t able to finish the sentence because she collapsed on the floor.

He was next to her in an instance, taking her into his arms. A quick scan of her body told him she didn’t have any wounds, or at least any visible ones – a blessing, really, because having her bleed out was not something he was ready to deal with. Still, she was barely breathing and he knew that he had to do something, and quick. So, he laid her gently on the ground and took her hand in his own. He placed a hand over her chest and let his electricity flood her body, and then lowered his lips on hers, trying to force the air into her lungs.

“Breathe, Helen.” He pleaded as he repeated the process again and again, but there was no response. “No, damn it!” He exclaimed, fear creeping in his voice. “I’m not letting you do this to me!” He screamed at her. He sat on the ground, taking her into his arms and, soon enough, she gasped for air, as she clung to his shirt, not wanting to let go.

“Shhh, I’m here.” He coaxed, as relief took over him.

“Why do I have the feeling that this was more interesting for you than it should have been?” She asked on a small voice as he squeezed her to his chest, not wanting to let go.

“That’s it, we’re getting out of here.” He said as he helped her on her feet. “What the hell was that?”

“I have no idea.” Helen replied. “I don’t think it was anything serious, though.” She said as she staggered a bit before finding her balance and staying straight. “I just got a bit dizzy I guess. No need to stop here, we’ll just see if there is something in here and then we go back.” She said before her feet betrayed her again and she had to grab Nikola’s shirt for support.

“Like hell we are.” He said on a tone that didn’t allow any objections. “I’m taking you home and the only things that get in this cave from now on are probes.”

“But Nikola…”

“No, Helen. I’m not risking anything. I’ll carry you out of here if I must.” To this, she gave no answer, but glared at him.

“What? You know I have a point here.” He said as he swept her off her feet and took her in his arms.

“I can walk perfectly well by myself, Nikola.” She muttered, but he didn’t seem to pay any attention to her. So she let her arms encircle his neck and cuddled closer to him, her nose nuzzling at his neck. It wasn’t such a bad feeling, staying this close to him, his heartbeat pounding in her ears, his chest heaving with each of his breaths…

Getting her back to the Sanctuary without getting any unwanted attention was a challenge, though. However, he knew that she would never forgive him if their daughter found out about this, so he did everything he could to be as quiet as possible. After all, he could take care of her alone, not to mention there could be some benefits to that, he mused as he laid her gently in their bed. She lay peacefully there, her chest slowly going up and down as she breathed, and for a second he let himself hope that it was just an accident, that she wasn’t really hurt and that she was going to be alright. Not wanting to consider other possibilities, he went to the kitchen to make her some tea.

She was already up when he came back, a strange look on her face, one he couldn’t quite place. Was she worried? Tired? A little bit of both?

“Good, you’re up.” He said with a smile as he offered her a cup.

“It’s just tea, I promise.” He said, watching as she took a careful sip. “Alright, I may have added some of Natalie’s tonics in it.” Nikola added when he saw her look. “And no, I didn’t tell her about our little adventure, not yet.” He added. “I know you wouldn’t have let me hear the end of it if I worried her, especially these days.

“Good.” Helen said, smiling gratefully. “Really, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. I probably just needed some sleep I guess.”

“I wish that was true.” Nikola said with a sigh. “I am going to take a bit of your blood, run some tests, just to be sure.”

“I’d rather do it myself, if you don’t mind. Let me take some rest and I’ll see to it as soon as I get up, alright?”

“No, no. You are going to stay right here and rest and I will do all the tests. What? I got pretty good at this, just so you know. Might have something to do with the fact that I’m a genius and all. That, and I had a very good teacher.”

“All these years married to me and you didn’t learn flattery will get you nowhere.” Helen smiled at him.

“Is that so?” Nikola challenged, his tone deliciously low, the kind he kept for her ears only, the one he knew it drew her crazy even after all these years. “I seem to remember some times when flattery got me pretty far with you.”

“We’ll run the tests tomorrow, together.” Helen agreed. “Happy now?”

“It will do for now.” Nikola grinned. “Seriously now, are you alright? You scared the living hell out of me today.”

“I never felt better.” Helen reassured him. “The only problem is I am a bit cold, so if you could help me with that…”

It was all he needed to hear as he got into bed next to her, allowing her to wrap her arms around him. She pressed her chest to his back as her fingers drew small circles on his chest, and he hummed in approval. She stopped for a little, just to put a strand of her hair behind her ear, grateful that he couldn’t see her at the time. For now, everything was well, and, whatever fate was going to throw at them, she was going to figure it out.


	2. Chapter 2

If someone had told him a few decades ago that he would marry Helen, _finally_ , and that they would have a daughter, he would have thought they have gone mad. And yet, here he was, walking hand in hand with his daughter down the aisle, preparing to give her away to the man she had chosen as her husband. A smile grew on his lips as he remembered the talk he and Helen had had three weeks before. He still didn’t like the guy, but then again, Natalie loved him and given the track record of bad ideas the girls in that family got when their fathers tried to hook them up with who they wanted instead of asking them… No, he wasn’t going to risk that. If she wanted this guy, then so be it. It wasn’t like he could change her mind anyway, and given recent events, he wasn’t sure he should have anyway.

To his credit, said guy looked like he had just been hit by a train the moment he had seen Natalie, and Nikola couldn’t blame him too much for that. She was simply stunning, with her dark curls framing her face perfectly, her blue eyes sparkling with hope, but also with determination, as she clung tighter to his arm, as if she wanted him to understand that this was exactly where she was supposed to be… She may have got her mother’s looks, but when it came to her character and the way she always wanted to get things done her way, no matter how reckless that was… That, she got from him and he couldn’t be more proud about it. But it was time to let her get along with her life now, he mused, as he handed her over to his soon to be son in law. Nikola’s eyes flashed black for a second, a silent warning, but it didn’t seem to faze the kid too much. Then again, said kid had got used to the idea of marrying into a family of immortals, one of which happened to be a living vampire, way before he had got used to the idea of his daughter marrying a mortal, so in hindsight the kid probably knew what to expect. That, and he looked at his daughter like she was the most beautiful woman in the world, so maybe he wasn’t really that bad.

Damian was wrong, though. Natalie may have been stunning, but she wasn’t the most beautiful woman in the world. No, the privilege of being married to that woman was his alone, Nikola thought with a smirk as he sat down next to Helen, clutching her hand in his. He had almost lost her a few weeks before and that was probably going to give him nightmares for the rest of his life. But he wasn’t going to let that memory ruin their daughter’s wedding, oh no. So, he let her entwine her fingers with his own, as they watched Natalie and Damian exchanging vows. He did yearn for a moment alone with Helen, though, because they needed to talk, and, even if they had kept the guest list to a minimum, because of obvious problems like the bride’s parents looking like they were her siblings, the wedding was not the best place for the kind of talk they had to have.

The truth was, Helen had been awfully quiet around him the previous weeks. Ever since they had come back from their little Praxian trip, she had changed. Sure, she had sworn that she was ok, she had even shown him the fact that her blood tests came out normal, well as normal as they could, by her standards, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with her.

Still, he hadn’t had the chance to get her alone until hours later, when all the guests had gone, and they had sent their daughter in her honeymoon, waving to her as she left.

 “I thought this was going to be a traditional wedding and all.” Nikola said. “Including the part with the groom not seeing the bride before the wedding.”

“They didn’t see each other.” Helen said, rolling her eyes. “Natalie was with me almost all the time. And why would it matter, anyway?”

“Because, darling, our son in law has teeth marks on his neck, and I happen to know that the kind of mark he has looks like one you’d have got only a few hours before.”

“Well she’s your daughter.”

“She’s your daughter too.” Nikola reminded her with a grin. “Poor kid, he doesn’t have any idea what he married does he?”

“He’ll be fine.” Helen said, waving her hand in dismissal. “They love each other, that’s all that matters.”

 “I guess.” Nikola agreed reluctantly. “Also, for the record, you’re the one who bites more often. I still have a problem with that.”

“No, you don’t.” Helen grinned as she cuddled closer to him, her lips briefly touching his neck. “I taught you to like it, remember? Besides, I thought we agreed on the fact that while you may be an excellent biter, there are more interesting things you can do with your mouth.”

“No argument there.” He whispered against the skin of her neck, making her knees weak. It was so unfair that he could still do this to her, even now.

“Speaking of which, I hope you know that wearing your hair like this is asking for trouble.”  She had tied her hair up in a bun, leaving her neck fully exposed, with the exception of a few curls, and it drew him crazy. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you want to hide something from me and this is just to distract me.”

“I’m not hiding anything.” She denied, a bit quicker than she should have.

“You know, Helen, you did this to me before. Twice, I might add.”

“I have no idea what you mean.” She said, turning her back at him.

“You changed the blood samples.” Nikola whispered as he wrapped his arms around her. “This is why they looked alright, and I was stupid enough to believe you.”

“Maybe.” Helen agreed with a sigh. “Regardless, there’s nothing you can do to help.”

“Helen, Helen, Helen.” He scolded her. “I may have forgiven you the first two times you tried to run away from me, but we’re married now. We even said vows, and there was that pesky little thing with facing everything together, and while half of it didn’t apply to us then… It doesn’t mean that any of us gets to bail when those vows start to be a lot more real than any of us would like.”

“Nikola, don’t.” She warned him, but he was having none of that. He let his fingers go up her neck, only stopping when they reached her hair. He undid her bun slowly, his fingers caressing her scalp as he worked on her. There was a very big part of her that wanted to stop him, that didn’t want to spoil what had been by all accounts a perfect day, but there was also a part of her that was too tired of running away. So, she let him finish with her hair, not wanting to turn around and face him. She knew his opinion on the matter all too well after seeing it happen to him, and she couldn’t even begin to imagine how he’d react to this now, when she was the one that went through this.

He forced her to turn around, a sad smile on his lips as he lifted her chin up and looked into her eyes.

“This…” he said as he played absent-mindedly with her curls, wrapping the white strands of hair she had tried to hide from him around his fingers. “… doesn’t matter. Do you hear me?” He said on a determined tone. “We’ll find a way to fix this. Together.” He said as his lips descended to hers, trapping her in a kiss that made her think that everything was going to be fine.


End file.
